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VERSATILITY OF SAMUDRA GUPTA 549
of the Guptas knew little about these monarchs. After the horse-sacrifice Samudra Gupta apparently issued coins bearing the legend Asva-medha-parakramah, 'whose prowess was demonstrated by the performance of the horse-sacrifice.'1
If Harisheṇa, the writer of the Allahabad Prasasti, is to be believed, the-great Gupta was a man of versatile genius. "He put to shame the preceptor of the lord of Gods and Tumburu and Narada and others by his sharp and polished intellect and choral skill and musical accomplishments. He established his title of Kaviraja by various poetical compositions." "He alone is worthy of the thoughts of the learned... His the poetic style which is worthy of study, and his are the poetic works which multiply the spiritual treasures of poets." Unfortunately none of these compositions have survived. But the testimony of Harishena to his musical abilities finds corroboration in the lyrist type of his coins. Himself a poet like Harsha, Mahendravarman and other kings of a later age, the Gupta monarch associated with men of letters who
1 Rapson and Allan refer to a seal bearing a horse and the legend Parakrama, and the stone figure of a horse, now in Lucknow, which are probably reminiscent of the Asvamedha of Samudra Gupta. (JRAS, 1901, 102; Gupta
Coins, xxxi.)
2 For Tumburu see Adbhuta-Rāmāyaṇa, VI. 7; E.I.,I. 236.
3. According to the Kavya Mimamsa (3rd. ed. GOS. pp. xv, xxxii, 19) a "Kaviraja is one stage further than a Mahakavi, and is defined as one who is unrestrained in various languages, various sorts of poetical compositions and various sentiments." For the intellectual activities of the Gupta Age see Bhandarkar, "A Peep into the Early History of India," pp. 61-74 and Bühler, IA, 1913. The son and successor of Samudra Gupta had the title Rupakṛiti, 'maker of plays."
4 A poetical work called the Krishna-charitam is attributed to Vikramāňka Mahārājādhirājā Paramabhāgavata Śrī Samudra Gupta. (IC, X, 79 etc.), But the ascription has been doubted by competent critics (cf. Jagannath in Annals, BORI, and others).
5 A lute-player (Vina-gäthin) plays an important part in the Asvamedha.
